Riyadh Declaration on the Counterterrorism International Conference

The participating states at the Counter terrorism international Conference held in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 25-28 Dhul Hijjah 1425H corresponding 5-8 February 2005 which are: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Republic of Argentina,, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Kingdom of Spain, Australia, Islamic State of Afghanistan, Federal republic of Germany, State of the United Arab Emirates, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Uzbekistan, Republic of Ukraine, Islamic republic of Iran, republic of Italy, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Kingdom of Bahrain, Republic of Brazil, Kingdom of Belgium, Republic of Turkey, United Republic of Tanzania, Republic of Tunisia, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, Republic of South Africa, Kingdom of Denmark, Russian Federation, Republic of Sri Lanka, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Republic of Singapore, Republic of The Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Peoples’ Republic of China, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Iraq, Sultanate of Oman, Republic of France, Republic of Philippines, State of Qatar, Republic of Kazakhstan, Canada, State of Kuwait, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Lebanon, Kingdom of Malaysia, Arab republic of Egypt, Kingdom of Morocco, United kingdom, Republic of India, The Netherlands, United States of America, Empire of Japan, Republic of Yemen, Greece, as well as international, regional and specialized organizations which attended the Conference: The United Nations, Organization of the Islamic Conference, League of Arab States, African Union, European Union, The INTERPOL, Gulf Cooperation Council, Council of Arab Ministers of the Interior, Muslim World League.

Express their profound appreciation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for convening and hosting this Conference held under the high patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Crown Prince and Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard.

Commend the spirit of cooperation that prevailed in the Conference and the unanimity of views and positions on the extent of the danger of terrorism and the need to challenge it through united, organized, and long- term international efforts that respect the principles of international law that consolidate the comprehensive and multidimensional role of the United Nations.

Call for fostering the values of understanding, tolerance, dialogue, co-existence, and the rapprochement between cultures to reject the logic of the clash of civilizations. Also, call for fighting any form of thinking that promotes hatred, incites violence, and condones terrorist crimes which can by no means be accepted by any religion or law.

Stress the fact that terrorism has no specific religion, ethnic origin, nationality, or geographic location. In this respect, it is of paramount importance to stress that any attempt to associate terrorism with any given faith will in actual fact only help the terrorists. It should be rejected wholeheartedly. Hence the need to take measures so as not to tolerate any accusations leveled against any religion and to lay the groundwork for understanding and cooperation founded on commonly shared values between countries with varying faiths.

Reiterate their commitment to resolutions issued by the United Nations in the fight against terrorism, which call upon the international community to condemn and combat terrorism by all means in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations in the view of the fact that terrorists’ acts threaten world peace and security. They also stress that the United Nations is the major forum to promote international cooperation against terrorism and that the relevant Security Council Resolutions constitute a solid and comprehensive foundation for fighting terrorism worldwide. All countries are therefore called upon to comply fully with the provisions of those resolutions.

Stress the fact that any international efforts will not be sufficient to effectively combat this terrorism phenomenon, if it were not to be conducted within the framework of joint actions and an over-all strategic vision. In this respect, they support and adopt the proposal made by HRH the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contained in His Highness’ opening session address, which called for the establishment of an International Counterterrorism Centre staffed by experts in this field in order to share real-time information to adequately prevent attacks before they occur with the ultimate goal of eradicating terrorism.

Encourage individual efforts to expand political participation, achieve sustainable development, and promote the role of the civil institutions to help address the conditions that spawn violence and extremist thinking.

Stress the importance of the role to be played by the media, civil institutions, and educational systems in establishing strategies against terrorists’ propaganda, while setting guidelines for press reports to prevent terrorists from exploiting media outlets for their communication and recruitment.

Request the United Nations to develop international unified criteria to regulate the work of non-profit charitable and humanitarian relief organizations to ensure that they are not exploited for illegal activities.

Call for the promotion of inter-agency cooperation and coordination, on national and bilateral levels, to combat terrorism, money-laundering, weapons and explosives trafficking, and drug smuggling. Also, call for the exchange of experiences and best practices, including training, in order to ensure effectiveness in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.

Stress the need to strengthen international measures to monitor the movement of nuclear material and relevant technology, and to support the role of the United Nations in securing nuclear facilities and enacting the United Nations General Assembly Resolution No. 58/48 on measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

Call for the support and assistance to developing countries in combating terrorism, namely, by providing early-warning equipment, crisis management training, and capacity-building measures among first responders.

Develop national legislation and procedures to prevent terrorists from abusing migration and asylum laws to establish safe havens or to use the territory of states as bases for recruiting, training, planning, inciting, or launching of terrorist operations against other states.

Stress the importance of utilizing the media to promote shared values, tolerance, and co-existence and to refrain from publishing material that calls for extremism and violence.

Express solidarity and support for all victims of terrorism

RIYADH-DECL.
Disk:3/ICT-2005

II. Recommendations of the Four Working Groups Adopted by the Plenary Sessions

Recommendations of the First Working Group: The Roots, Culture, and Ideology of Terrorism

1. Terrorism and extremism constitute a continuous threat to the peace, security and stability of all countries and peoples. They should be condemned and comprehensively confronted by a unified and effective global strategy; and an organized international effort underlining the leading role of the United Nations is needed.

2. No matter what pretext terrorists may use for their deeds, terrorism has no justification. Terrorism, under all circumstances, regardless of the alleged motives should be condemned unreservedly.

3. Lack of agreement on a comprehensive definition of terrorism which is acceptable to all hampers international efforts to combat terrorism. Therefore, the problem of definition should be overcome. The proposals contained in the UN High Level Panel Report on New Threats and Challenges could provide a useful basis for a speedy compromise in this field.

4. The violent nature of terrorism forces the international community to concentrate on measures to eliminate terrorist organizations and prevent terrorist acts. On the other hand, it is important to address the factors that provide a fertile ground where terrorism can flourish with a view to contribute to the elimination of terrorism.

5. Serious attempts should be made to solve regional and international conflicts peacefully, so that terrorist organisations are denied the opportunity of exploiting the suffering of peoples under unjust conditions, spreading their misguided ideology and founding a fertile ground for recruitment and for their illegal activities.

6. Terrorism violates the enjoyment of fundamental human rights. Terrorism has no particular religion, race, nationality or a specific geographic region. In this context, it should be underlined that any attempt to couple terrorism with any religion would in fact play into the hands of terrorists and should be strongly rejected. Therefore, measures should be taken to prevent intolerance against any religion and to create an atmosphere of common understanding and cooperation based on shared values among nations belonging to different faiths.

7. Guidelines and codes of conduct should be developed by the appropriate UN bodies to assist states and their law enforcement agencies in combating terrorism while observing their obligations under international law including human rights, humanitarian and refugee laws.

8. National reform efforts of countries aiming at widening political participation and pluralism, achieving sustainable development, reaching social equilibrium and promoting the role of civil society institutions should be supported so as to confront the conditions promoting violence and extremism.

9. Programs should be developed and implemented which are aimed at promoting multicultural and inter-religious dialogue. To this effect, policies and mechanisms should be set to develop educational systems and other sources of socialization in order to strengthen the values of tolerance, pluralism and human co-existence at grassroots level as well as to provide basic knowledge of civilizations and religions and to raise public and mass media awareness of the dangers of terrorism and extremism.
10. Ideas of tolerance and co-existence should be encouraged and mutual understanding on different religions be deepened through public debate and exchange of thoughts. Standards and codes of ethics should be identified to regulate publication or spreading of materials that promote hatred or inciting violence.
11. Special attention should be given to the situation of migrants. In many cases, these people represent “the Other” and are subjected to racism, xenophobia and intolerance. Addressing the fundamental rights of these persons will help bridge the cultural divide. At the same time, migrants should demonstrate willingness to integrate into their host societies.

12. The UN is the main forum for consolidating international cooperation against terrorism. Member states are called to join, ratify without reservation and implement the 12 major international conventions on combating terrorism. The states could benefit whenever appropriate from technical assistance of the UN Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee (CTC) and the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the UNODC. All states should also support the work of the 1267 Committee of the UN Security Council and its Monitoring Team.

13. The UN Security Council resolutions 1267, 1373, 1526, 1540 and 1566 constitute a solid and comprehensive basis for combating terrorism on a universal scale. These resolutions provide a clear road map for the steps that need to be taken. All countries should take necessary measures in order to fully comply with the provisions of the above mentioned Security Council resolutions.

14. The task of creating a universal legal instrument is yet to be fulfilled. The discussions in the UN on a comprehensive convention on terrorism have not moved ahead due to differences on the definition of terrorism. All states should exert further efforts in order to conclude the convention.

15. Special attention should be given to measures aimed at preventing terrorists’ access to weapon of mass destruction and their means of delivery. The earliest possible adoption within the UN of the draft international convention for the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism would be a crucial step in this direction.

16. The idea launched by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to establish an international center to combat terrorism should be positively examined and supported.

Recommendations form the Second Working Group: The Relation Between Terrorism and Money Laundering, and Arms and Drug Trafficking Adopted by the Plenary Session

1 Strengthening international, regional and bilateral cooperation among states to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the financial underpinning of terrorism, as well as the activities of organized crime groups, illegal weapons, and explosives trafficking and illicit narcotics trade. Countries should endeavor to create legal frameworks that allow for flexible exchange of information in a flexible way between competent authorities, both domestically, regionally, and internationally.

2. Encouraging countries to fully implement the existing Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) international standards – in particular, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 40 + 9 Recommendations and the relevant United Nations Conventions and the Security Council Resolutions, as well best practices to counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism through:

– strengthening the efforts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in AML/CFT.
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– encouraging the countries not subject to mutual evaluation by Financial Action Task Force (FATF), or FATF style regional bodies (FSRBs), to volunteer for assessment by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
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– encouraging all countries to develop Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) that meet the criterion of Egmont Group Definition and standards, and to have these FIUs join the Egmont Group to share their experience, expertise, and operational information.

3. Asking the United Nations to work together with the FATF and FSRBs to further elaborate international standards to ensure the fulfillment of the Charitable and humanitarian role of charitable and humanitarian role of charities and non-profit organizations by regulating their operations and by preventing their use in illegal activities. The articulation of these standards should be conducted in the context of FATF and FSRBs.

4. Ensuring effective information flow among relevant law enforcement, national security and intelligence agencies with AML/CFT responsibilities. Additionally, countries should to the greatest extent possible ,ensure cooperation among agencies on bilateral, regional, and international basis.

5. Increasing national, bilateral, and regional cooperation and coordination among agencies combating terrorism, as well as money laundering, arms and explosives trafficking and drugs smuggling and supporting the sharing of expertise and experiences, for instance by training, to ensure effectiveness in the fight against terrorists and organized crime.

6. Enhancing laws on combating arms and explosives trafficking and drugs smuggling, money laundering and improving the capacities of law enforcement agencies (including judicial authorities) to implement those laws.

7. Reinvigorating international community efforts to develop and refine mechanisms that enable countries to comply fully with their obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1373 to freeze without delay the assets of terrorists and those who materially support them. In particular, countries should provide accurate, reliable and complete data at their disposal of any individual name, organization, or entity as well as information on the involvement in terrorism prior to the submission of the designation to the 1267 Committee. Delisting procedures should be established.

8. Encouraging the creation of special domestic bodies that would manage seized and confiscated assets and funds derived from money laundering, terrorism financing, arms and drugs smuggling and organized crime. These funds could be used for strengthening the means allocated to the fight against these forms of crime, as well as to compensate and assist victims of terrorism.

9. Identifying individuals and entities that are suspected of financing terrorism at the national level. At the FIU level, this information could be shared freely and rapidly and in line with the Egmont principles. In the case of the discovery of relevant information, countries should respond through appropriate channels.

10. Encouraging countries to undertake a study to determine the feasibility of implementing a system for collection and analysis, by the FIUs of international wire transfers to facilitate the detection of transactions or patterns that may be indicative of money laundering or financing terrorism.

Recommendation of the Third Working Group: Experiences and Lessons Learned From Counterterrorism Adopted by the Plenary Session

1. The essential basis for success is an effective national cross-government counter-terrorism strategy, which sets out clear and measurable objectives for all relevant departments and agencies, including law enforcement, intelligence, military, interior and foreign affairs.

2. There is a requirement for effective national mechanisms for coordinating the national strategy, in particular the work of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, also in respect to regional and international cooperation.

3. Each nation is affected by the success or failure of others. It is therefore essential to have effective bilateral and multilateral mechanisms underpinned by political will for integrated law enforcement, judicial and intelligence dimensions of co-operation. These could address a range of issues, such as the legal framework for dealing with terrorist groups and their associates, extradition procedures, border controls, protecting ports and maritime transportation. Effective co-operative working is required at all stages of international counter-terrorist operations, including ad hoc multinational teams where appropriate.

4. At international level, success requires the sharing of information, techniques expertise, and equipment. There is value in the establishment of counter terrorism capacity building centres and forums with the objective of improving counter terrorism legislation, offering training and sharing equipment techniques experties for tackling evolving terrorist organizations and methods, such as the use of the internet as a tool for terrorists.

5. It is important, on voluntary basis that funds and other resources, such as high technology equipment, are made available to states needing such assistance, commensurate with the threat they face and the level of their anti-terrorist operations.

6. Counter terrorist measures must be carried out in accordance with domestic and international law, with respect for human rights, also in order not to alienate communities and cause marginalization.

7. A key part of any strategy must be to identify and address factors which can be exploited by terrorists in recruiting new members and supporters.

8. Terrorists thrive on publicity by any means. Mass media, civil society and the educational system can play a crucial role in any strategy to counter terrorist propaganda and claims to legitimacy. Developing methods for reporting on terrorism that would prevent terrorists from exploiting these reports in their communication

Recommendations of the Fourth Working Group: Terrorist Organizations and Thieir Formation Adopted by the Plenary Session

1. Supporting the call of His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the creation of an international centre for combating terrorism which will undertake, among other things, to develop a mechanism for exchanging information and expertise between states in the field of combating terrorism, and for linking the national centers for combating terrorism with a database which enables the fastest updating of information possible considering that the fight against terrorism is a collective effort requiring maximum cooperation and coordination among states and full readiness to exchange security information and intelligence instantly between specialized organs through secure equipment.

2. Encouraging states to set up national centers specialized in combating terrorism, and calling on them to create similar centers on the regional level to facilitate intelligence sharing, exchange of real time operational information, developing mechanisms and technologies for data collection and analysis to thwart the preparation of terrorist operations and undermine the networks of recruitment, training, support and financing of terrorists, and coordination between relevant international bodies and other regional centers.

3. Inviting Interpol to consider how it could most effectively reinforce its extensive existing work against terrorism, and calling on all members of Interpol to contribute promptly and actively to the maintenance of an up-to-date list of wanted terrorists.

4. Encouraging states to adopt national legislation and procedures capable of preventing terrorists from utilizing asylum and immigration laws to reach safe havens or to use states’ territories as bases for recruitment, training, planning, instigation, and for the launching of terrorist operations against other states.

5. Establishing, whenever appropriate, task forces to fight terrorism in every country that would be composed of elements from law enforcement and task forces and train them to deal with terrorist networks.

7. Supporting and assisting developing countries in establishing early-warning mechanisms, management of crises and improve capabilities of those dealing with crises and situations of terror.

8. Increasing interaction with the media to enhance people’s awareness as to the dangers of terrorism and so that the media would not be used or manipulated by the terrorists.

9. Strengthening relations with non-government organizations to ensure an effective contribution to information-sharing relating to the fight against terrorism.

10. Establishing an international data base for coordination in respect of stolen passports, and other travel documents, whereby it will be possible to identify the place and numbers of those passports in order to reduce the movements of the terrorists, and encourage adopting high technology-related international criteria through international cooperation and technical assistance as may be necessary to prevent forging passports and using them by terrorist groups to travel from one country to another.